Resident Ranma
by Porthos112
Summary: The year is 2005, and it's the last year of the human race. the survivors don't care about that though. The NWC try to come to grips with the changed world and even hope to mount a rescue attempt for those lucky or unlucky enough to have survived.
1. Chapter 1

Resident Ranma -()- Prologue

Disclaimer, if you don't know what this is about then you must be a Fanfiction virgin, and as such I'd like to welcome you into our coterie. (A small exclusive group of people who share the same interest.)

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Some might say the world was better off not knowing what its fate would be. I have to admit I wish I didn't know the things I've learned; well most times we don't get what we want as I'm learning the hard way.

It should have been an easy mission, infiltrate an unused science facility and acquire a serum, a serum for what? They wouldn't tell us.

Eight men and women from an elite mercenary outfit; we were invincible, unstoppable. Pity we weren't immune as well. I suppose I should start from the beginning but I don't like to dwell on that time. Suffice to say we got more than we bargained for, the zombies we could probably have dealt with once we got over the shock of walking corpses; we might have even dealt with the mutated beasts that attacked us on a regular basis.

What we couldn't fight was the laboratories A.I., the computer decided that the only way to save mankind was to stop us from reaching too far into the base, and she wasn't particular how she did it either. Fools that we were we thought we could handle anything and worked to shut the mainframe down, and we succeeded. Then all hell broke loose.

It wasn't flashy, in fact most of the world never knew what happened, but I do….Sometimes the nightmares come in the night and I hope that this time I'll die from the fear and shame. It hasn't happened yet, but I live in hope, coward that I am. Instead I wake each morning and face a world where so few other people exist, the zombies died months ago.

Let me explain that.

Its strange but the virus was designed to destroy the one advantage mankind had over the other beasts of the world; the human mind. It removed all higher brain function even as it killed the victim. The thing is the virus utilized a little known fact, that the human brain continues to produce a faint electrical charge for at least a month after the victims' death. Not a problem or at least it shouldn't have been. If some bright spark in one of those brightly lit laboratories hadn't discovered how to utilize that charge into animating the corpses. So know instead of having something that was immobile but highly infectious now we had something that would try to eat you and still be infectious. I saw it happen too many times over the next few months as the few survivors I could find were attacked and unable to defend themselves, they scream, they scream until they stop. And then they get up and join the advancing army of undead.

Those of you who've seen horror movies with zombies in them don't even begin to understand the true horror of watching a friend die in such a manner, and to know that they'll do the same thing to you if they're given a chance. You see the only instinct that remains to them is their hunger; an insatiable need to eat that isn't assuaged even if the stomach were full.

We found some interesting things out about the virus in those early days. It seems the virus was specifically targeted at humans to suppress the fear centre's of the human mind making soldiers into unconscionable killing machines. Unfortunately it mutated as living things are wont to do and became something that targeted human higher brain functions. It seemed to have no effect on wildlife or domestic animals and they went on peacefully unaware of any virus. They weren't however immune to the undead that would swarm them and eat them where they stood. Then there were the mutations, grotesque beasts that resembled humans in bone structure while still seeming to have some of it's higher mental functions, it was supposedly a super soldier, but the Umbrella corporation could never figure out how to control them and ultimately they became the new predator for humans, they're fast and agile and it takes a lot to kill one. They've adapted to the virus and thus they're still out there waiting for a chance to take the last of us.

When I left the underground base I found a city in chaos, the buildings still stood but the people were gone. That was nearly a year ago, now there are nearly a hundred survivors here. I hope there are others but the world is much larger now, and so much is unknown…..

Authors notes:- Hello everybody, anyone for the apocalypse? Well jump on board because it's a whole new world, and a cruel one at that.

Oh yeah, I want to see reviews, lots of reviews and comments and suggestions. Oh my! This is going to be a fairly short fanfic, probably under thirty thousand words, but if I get enough ammunition I might be able to spin it out a little.


	2. Chapter 2

Resident Ranma –()- Chapter one

Disclaimer:- You guys know the drill by now. No one owns these characters, except for Rumiko Takahashi and anyone she says does.

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Ranma Saotome sat on a small granite boulder as he stared at the night sky. The bright and not so distant lights of Tokyo did little to diminish the brilliant points of light that hung suspended above his head as he was above the layer of pollution that covered the city and reflected the cities lights back to earth. The crisp cold air caused his ears and nose to become slightly numb, just like the rest of him.

Usually the stars above would tend to put the pig-tailed martial artists life in perspective, but that was usually, and there had been nothing usual about the last few days.

-flashback-

He came in from the garden like he always did in the mornings. He'd left the panda slumped in an untidy heap in the middle of the backyard to recover as best he could just like he usually did. He decided to take a quick bath before he came out for breakfast. Casting ahead he made sure that no one was in the bathroom before entering. It looked like the Tendo's were all clustered in the front-room of their home.

"Wonder what's goin' on there?" Ranma muttered quietly as he slid the shoji screen closed and began to undress. He was down to his boxers when he heard the rapidly approaching thud of feet, Akane's feet if he was any judge. Without any pre-amble the door was slammed open so violently that Ranma was in a crouch and ready to apologise for whatever he'd done before he even realized that the expression on her face wasn't rage but fear.

"A-Aka-ne? What's wrong?"

"It's, it's, horrible Ranma! They're dying!"

"Who's dyin?"

"Millions, they're dying Ranma."

"Hold on 'Kane, who's dying?"

"The Americans."

"HUH???"

"Come and listen to the news, it'll tell you what's going on."

"Why're they dyin'?"

"There's a plague or something. The details aren't very clear but it's spreading." She grabbed him by the hand and dragged him into the front-room, not heeding his struggle for release so that he could appease his modesty and put some clothes on.

When they reached the rest of the family he found them clustered around the television listening to the excited chatter of a special panel of experts as they discussed the situation, and its possible ramifications. Just as he took his place and started to listen to what was being said a man rushed in from the side of the screen and handed a sheet of paper to the person Ranma assumed was the host of the show, all the others had the rumpled appearance of those who had other things on their minds than what they looked like to the world as a whole, the man in the centre on the other hand had that glossy appearance that all T.V. presenters seemed to possess. Even the snazzy clothes couldn't hide the fact that the man in question was barely holding himself together as more and more facts were added to the situation.

"This is just in. The government in collaboration with remaining CIA and FBI assets in Japan have begun investigating a company called the Umbrella Corporation in the United States. It appears that they were developing biological super-weapons when one of their experiments went wrong and the laboratory was infected with a strain of a new virus. It took several weeks for news of the event to reach the outside world, and in the interim the whole underground base was infected." The presenter looked up with eyes wide with fear, there wasn't even any pretence at an unruffled appearance anymore. "It gets worse." He said before going back to reading the document in his hand. "Having successfully hacked the bases mainframe the joint taskforce has uncovered encrypted files. Starting with the last file known only as T they uncovered as much information as they could. It turns out that the T-virus as it is now being called has a high infection rate and is completely effective, it destroys the brains higher functions and turns the victim into a primordial beast that hunts. The file also had hyperlinks to a file called M and another titled R. Learning more about these files uncovered the names behind the letters. T stands for Terminus, or death. M stands for Mutation, and R stands for Replicating. Apparently the T-virus has been linked to the others to make it even more effective. The mutation part we don't understand as yet but the replicating part is simple enough, anyone infected with the virus becomes a carrier, if they scratch someone within two days of falling ill with the virus then that person will become infected, no one is immune to the disease though roughly one in ten thousand will survive with no harm done though they will still be a carrier for the two days the virus is active."

-end flashback-

It was all so clear in his mind, that single program had changed his world, or rather it had already changed and they were just informing people to the changed status of the world. With all his skill there was nothing he could do. You can't punch a virus into submission. He looked down at the lights of the city once again and thought, 'Those lights will eventually die, just like the people did.' It was a morbid thought but then it was a morbid situation. A city of eight million people suddenly reduced to a few thousand survivors.

He turned away from what had once been his home and looked at the scattered fires around which huddled the pitiful remnants of a once vibrant city. Now the Nerima Wrecking crew was the only thing that stood between these people and certain annihilation.

What do we know about the T-virus? Well much of it we learned from the radio and television before the plague arrived on our supposedly inviolable shores. We were an island there was no way the T-virus could reach us, all we had to do was maintain a strict quarantine, any aircraft or ship that approached Japan was destroyed, regardless of where it came from. They weren't taking any chances and it might have even worked, but for one thing. One thing would change the outcome and….

Then again Japan was isolated from the rest of the world, and America was a long way away. They'd been afraid, but felt they were probably safe from the virus. Oh how wrong they'd been.

It was midnight when the plane came in over the sea of Japan, the cockpit was empty and the planes auto-pilot was lined up with Tokyo airport as closely as an automated program could be. The radio crackled to life again.

"Flight AH-400 out of New York, respond! You are flying into restricted airspace. If you do not respond you will be shot down." They'd made numerous attempts to get someone but they feared there was no one there that would be able to talk to them.

"Sir we still have no response from flight AH-400." He turned around to face his superior who's call it would be.

"We have no choice then but to shoot them down." The man in charge looked stressed as he considered that he could be wrong but with the news coming from around the world he couldn't take the chance. Picking up his microphone he called, "JSDF flight 1 you have a go on termination. Clear the skies." The last was a safety code that allowed the pilots to know that there was no coercion on the man giving the order and that they should carry out his order.

JSDF flight 1 was currently at twenty-five thousand feet as they tailed the commercial jet-liner from a safe distance. Upon hearing their orders they moved into position to attack and locked on. As soon as they had tone they launched their IR AIM-9 Sidewinder air-air missiles. The lumbering 747 didn't have a chance as six missiles closed from three different angles. Then the unexpected happened, the plane that was supposed to set down in the Middle East finally ran out of fuel, the engines sputtered as they ran dry and the heat source that the missiles locked onto was lost. Their was still heat there, but it wasn't enough to maintain a positive lock and they streaked off into the night. All except one, it didn't have a lock but just happened to be on a vector to intercept the tip of the right wing causing ten metres of it to disappear in a massive ball of flame and shrapnel. There should have been a chain reaction as the fuel cells in the wings ignited but the outer cells had been dry for the longest time and the vapour failed to ignite. As luck would have it, it was enough to cause the huge plane to nose over and begin to dive into the sea thousands of feet below. JSDF Flight 1 wasn't taking any chances and launched AMRAAM missiles at the damaged plane, watching in satisfaction as the fuselage disappeared in a bright ball of flame. Even if something from the plane landed in Japan it had been cleansed by fire.

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Elsewhere in Japan, a certain wanderer did what he did best. He'd been sick for a few hours now and had no idea what was happening to him. He was tireder than he ever remembered being, even the times he hadn't eaten for days hadn't felt this bad. He decided that it was time to camp even though he still had hours of daylight to travel in, and pitched his small tent, attaching all the pieces together with rope and finally himself with a fifteen metre chain. He never took his backpack off, just in case he wandered away, he didn't want to lose his few possessions, especially the gift he'd brought for Akane.

After about an hour of looking into the flames of his campfire Ryoga spiked a fever and got even sleepier. Closing his eyes for a moment he relaxed. The last thought to cross his mind was that Ranma would pay for this.

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Author's notes:- You know the drill at this end of the chapter as well guys, I'd love to hear from you. In fact I look forward to it immensely.

Alright for those of you who missed it, yes I see you in the back row. Ryoga is infected with T, he's in the wilderness, or maybe it's a park that he thinks is wilderness. Anythings possible with the lost boy. Where am I going with this? You'll have to wait and see.


	3. Signs of Life

Resident Ranma

Chapter 2 – "Signs of Life"

Disclaimer)- Why do I even bother? No one ever pays attention to these things, I mean it's not like I try to make them funny or anything. All right let's get this over with, the characters and story concepts belong to other people. The situations they're currently in came directly from my twisted mind.

Authors notes:- as of Monday last week I have a new hard-drive, hardly important I know. What makes it noteworthy is why. Last Monday my nine month old Western Digital harddrive died in a spectacular fashion. At first I thought it was just a fan, turns out the disc inside actually came loose, that means I lost all my work, some hundred plus thousand words of stories, ideas and research. Not to mention eight to nine hundred fanfics and over two hundred gigabytes of downloads. But the distressing part has been the loss of work on updates for my stories, this is the first time I've been motivated to write since, and you can thank Calamity Queen of Cordite for that. So here I continue to write, as I only lost a hard-drive and not my mind, well not recently anyway. You know what'd pick me up even more? Reviews, yes that's right just a few short words to tell me how this chapter makes you feel and I'll feel much better I'm sure.

Ranma stood on the roof of the Tendo residence watching as distant fires spread and consumed the city, they'd all felt the first stirrings of the disease as it swept the city. Hours after the first victims turned the wave of death had been overwhelming and from there Tokyo went rapidly to hell. He shuddered as he remembered the first zombie he'd seen, it, he couldn't call the poor creature a girl had stumbled down the street, its eyes pools of white as the virus took hold of her and destroyed her body, though at that stage it'd looked like a normal teenager except for those eyes. It had known he was there, like it had ki senses or something, or maybe as Khu Lon had postulated a more primitive sense of smell, for that was the sort of mentality that remained to the victims of the T-virus. Then there'd been a veritable flood of shambling zombies, they couldn't reach him inside the safety of the walls but he could sense the hunger that caused them to beat against the buildings wall trying to find a way inside.

The rest of the survivors they'd managed to rescue from the surrounding homes watched the wall, hoping against hope that the overwhelming numbers of zombies wouldn't break down the garden wall.

"Khu Lon! We've gotta do something." Ranma dropped from the eaves as he addressed the Amazon elder.

"You always have to state the obvious don't you sonny boy? What would you suggest, there are nearly twenty thousand soulless monsters on the other side of that wall."

"Yeah, I know. That's not what I meant. Didn't you notice how many people survived around the dojo and your restaurant? Why?" He tried to keep the ice out of his voice, this wasn't the time to object to stupid things like what she called him.

"You know that's a very good question," she looked thoughtfully at the people who were scattered across the crowded grounds of the dojo, there were nearly a hundred and fifty of them not including the pregnant women and the children who were inside the dojo and house. "So what's different here than out there?"

Nabiki sat looking at the wall, she shuddered at a particularly loud groan of hunger, she'd been about to leave the dojo for school when Ranma had grabbed her and dragged her back inside. The way she figured it if he hadn't that could be her on the other side of the wall trying to breach the last bastion of civilization in Nerima, the shivering started again as shock began to overtake her at the closeness of the disaster this time. The problem was there was no way to shut her mind down, not like other people could. A long time ago she'd discovered a trick whereby her mind could continue to function as if she were awake even when she was exhausted and fast asleep. It had given her an edge in the competitive world of high school finance that few others could hope to compete with. Such as now, her mind wouldn't let go of the question even as fear drove her closer to the edge of reason. 'Why? Why? What's different here? What allows us to survive here? Why?' Then she found a corner piece of the puzzle, 'Martial arts! No that can't be it, there's not enough difference, but it's close, what else.' She struggled deeper inside the problem like a terrier hunting its masters prey. 'Not just martial artists, these are the best, the strongest fastest, most powerful martial artists. What do they all have in common? Power? No that's not it either, maybe….ki? Is that it? No it can't be, there's too much ki around here, it shouldn't effect so much of Nerima if it was ki, but it feels right. Well it's better than nothing, let's see what the others think.' Nabiki raised her sunken eyes to regard those around her. Khu Lon was looking even more harried than she did after the Jhusendo incident, the report the elders of the village had sent her had been hair raising even with the positive turn of events.

"Khu Lon?' Nabiki's voice came out tired and scratchy, last night had been terrible, she'd dreamed the entire night about the undead breaking in and her not being able to defend herself as they ate her alive. It'd been so real she woke screaming as she felt the teeth sink into her flesh, so real that she didn't think she'd ever sleep again.

"Yes child?" Khu Lon looked at the haggard expression on the girls face, she'd aged overnight and seemed much older than she had yesterday, but then horror such as this would weaken anyone.

"Could it be your ki levels?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know… It just seems to me that everyone within a certain range of you guys survived. The only thing you have that could defeat the virus that makes any sense is ki. I mean you're all martial artists, but you can't punch a virus out, and there are lots of martial artists in Nerima as a whole, so it can't be that." Nabiki felt a little better, before she'd voiced her suspicion she'd felt helpless, but if she were correct there were possibly others out there who'd survived. How long that would hold true she didn't know, but if they acted quickly they might salvage something. The smoke billowed across the sky as the wind blew towards the distant mountains, turning what should have been early afternoon into a twilight world of shadows. Khu Lon's eyes sharpened as they re-examined the young woman she'd dismissed as a coward.

"What a bright child you are. That sounds almost plausible, no I take that back, not just plausible but likely. What does it mean though."

"Maybe there are others like you out there, protecting people just like you are." The look of hope in her eyes pierced the elders' heart in a way that hadn't happened in a long time, not from an outsider anyway.

"I don't know, but I know how to find out. Ranma!"

"You called Old Gh….Elder Khu Lon?" Ranma stopped what he'd been about to call her before he said something else stupid, what with the number of undead out there it'd only start a panic inside the walls if he called her what he usually did.

"Nabiki raised a possibility that ki is the only thing shielding us here. If that's the case then we have an advantage. Keep this to yourself for the moment, but there's the possibility we're not alone in surviving this, think, do you know any other ki practitioners?"

"Yeah, there's Tofu, Ryoga, Copy c-ca-cat Ken. Several of the shrines in the area use ki to ward off demons. They've been around in some cases for hundreds of years building ki. I can also name at least…let me think…there's…and then…sixty, no sixty one Koryu within twenty miles of here that I know for a fact use ki."

"Would Reiki masters have enough ki?"

"Dunno Na-chan, maybe…Could be worth looking into…but we'd have to be quick, and sure. So what's the plan, tell me you've got one Elder?"

"I've never been in a situation like this before son-in-law, but we're not dealing with anything intelligent. These are mindless creatures, primitive in their needs. Give me a moment…"

"We ain't got a moment…We've gotta do something'!" Ranma clenched his fists releasing little popping sounds as the tendons tightened convulsively.

"You think I don't know that! We can't afford to lose anyone to hasty action here, anything we do had to be balanced against the survival of those already here. If we make one mistake now, we may not get another chance!"

"I'm sorry.. I was outta line…" Ranma watched his feet as they drew lines in the dirt of the yard.

"That's alright Ranma," the youth in question looked up startled at the use of his name for the first time in six or more months, "We're all under a great deal of stress. I want nothing more than to run out there and save everyone I find, but sometimes in war you don't get what you want."

"War?"

"Yes of course it's war, the atrocity of using the ultimate weapon has been committed and now we have to survive the fall-out. What ever we do we have to weigh against the lives of nearly two hundred people. We need information more than anything, we need to know likely sites for survivors, we need to know what provisions we have on hand and how long they'll last. But most of all I want to know how we kill these undead things."

"Well Nabiki here's good at information, if she can't find it I don't know who can. Put Kasumi on the provisions, she'll know what she's got here, and figure out what we need. Dunno about the zombies though, what do ya suggest?"

"What about your parents?" The Amazon elder cast a critical eye over the youths surrounding her looking for direction from her.

"Who Pops and Soun? They crawled into a barrel last night and got smashed out of their skulls. Pops made the mistake of getting up this morning with a hangover, he groaned as he entered the kitchen while looking like death warmed over and mum tried to remove the zombies head. If we weren't in such a bad position I think I woulda' laughed myself sick. He really did look like he'd been dead for a week. I don't think either of them will be up for much today and maybe tomorrow."

"We'll see about that sonny, I have something that'll sober them up very quickly, and it's not pleasant at all." The grim expression on her face lightened for a moment as she exposed perfect teeth in a feral grin. "Any objections?" Nabiki and Ranma shook their heads emphatically as they thought about their fathers dereliction in this time of need.

"Nah, do your worst, whatever they get at this stage is fine by me. As long as they're able to work afterwards."

"Oh I think I can assure you of that much at least. Next thing I need is a list of all the ki adepts inside the walls here."

"You ain't goin senile on us are ya Khu Lon?" THOK, Khu Lon withdrew her cane from the top of Ranma's head as she regarded him with displeasure.

"Insolent pup, if you weren't so necessary I'd teach you better manners. The reason I asked, before you so rudely interrupted was that we need to discuss them in tactical terms. I mean Happosai, yourself and I are easily the strongest ki users here, while your father and Soun Tendo are probably the weakest. I've seen Akane's aura and have to admit it's impressive,"

"Yeah maybe, but she ain't got control of it, Pops and Soun might be weaker in terms of power, but when it comes to control I'd trust them more. As long as there ain't no alcohol around. Only way Akane can use her aura is in battle and then she's gotta be furious for it to manifest."

"Alright I see your point, that gives us eight ki users with Mu Tse and Xian Pu. Any suggestions on how to progress?"

"Well whoever goes out there's gotta be able to maintain a strong aura, an if we're gonna rescue people they've gotta be able to extend the protection outwards. So that means me, you and Happosai. Don't mean to be offensive but if either of you go out there anyone you try to rescue is gonna attack ya thinking you're like them." THOK, Ranma tried to duck the cane this time but knowing it was coming didn't help, the elder was just too damn quick.

"Rudely put, but I see your point. I think there's another thing that may help. Both Xian Pu and Mu Tse are quite adept at using their ki in battle, I think they'll do well in aiding you."

"You're probably right," Ranma continues to rub the knot on top of his head, "Guess we'll have to find out sooner or later. One good thing, if we're wrong whoever goes out there is gonna lose their abilities along with their life. I don't even wanna think about one of them things with the skills of a martial artist."

"So it's settled then, once we have some likely spots to check we send you out in different directions to find any signs of life."

Authors notes:- don't forget to review please, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter short though it may be. I'm trying a new approach on this story, seeing if keeping the size to two or three thousand words gets things updated quicker


	4. Chapter 3

Resident Ranma Chapter 3

Disclaimer)- the situations in this story aren't mine, I don't own either the Ranma universe or the Resident Evil one.

Authors notes. Just a short update, hope you enjoy

The creature had massive upper body strength; in fact it looked so top heavy any one who wasn't running for the hills would have to wonder how the hell it remained upright like that. Of course so far anything that stayed close to this particular monster died, a platoon of JSDF marines had attempted to intercept the monster as it headed for the nearest town, firing M4's into its hide, but it had proved futile as the bullets ricocheted off the thick hide, military grade heavy machine guns had only managed to knock it off it's feet before it had charged and smashed through their defensive line, swinging a massive clawed paw it had ripped the head off one of the soldiers before plunging it through the chest of the soldier next to him, clenching its prehensile fingers it pulled with a wet sucking sound. Clutched in its grasp were a number of vital organs, one of the surviving soldiers wretched as a coil of intestine was pulled from the still living soldier and pooled in an ever growing pile at his feet. The injured man keeled over as he watched the monster bring its gore filled paw to its mouth and suck the contents inside, it didn't chew so much as tip its head back and swallow whole leaving blood stains on its white teeth. It licked it's lips as it considered the taste of what it just ate and decided it liked it very much. Looking around through cat like eyes the unnamed and unclassified monster picked its next target, the frozen soldier barely had enough time to scream as it plunged it claws into his back, the claw from it's thumb pierced his chest and the monster picked the still struggling man up. A The soldier desperately tried to fen that gaping teeth lined maw away even as he lost strength, but it proved in vain as it simply chose to close its mouth over the arm and bite it off, blood sprayed all over the creature as the soldier screamed his dying cry of outrage. It had been a long time if ever since the Japanese considered themselves as part of the food-chain in any other place but at the top. The men who'd stood about in stupefied horror suddenly broke and ran which proved to be a mistake as it was a true predator, it wasn't hungry but then again neither are most cats when they kill wildlife indiscriminately. One by one the men died, as the red-skinned monster exulted in its speed and the thrill of the chase.

The last survivor ran across the fields stripping his equipment as fast as he could while maintaining his headlong flight, the gun had already proved useless, and what good were rations and extra clothes if you were dead, losing the sixty pound pack allowed the man to speed up even more, 'I'm going to make it!' He nearly stumbled as he heard it roar behind him and he found even more speed, speed that he hadn't known he possessed. As it was, neither hunter or prey noticed the heavy clouds above; it wouldn't have mattered to either as they played out their roles. Then the rain came down in a sheet of continuous water, the unnamed soldier slipped in the mud and landed hard on his outstretched arms, the right shoulder was dislocated while the arm itself snapped like a twig. He cried out as he rolled over fully expecting his pursuer to be right on top of him, he squinted against the rain as he tried to find it and failed. Had he been spared?

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Ryoga found himself running across a wet muddy field, he could see a man running just ahead of him and winced as the man slipped. He even heard the tearing sound as the arm came out of the socket over the sound of the arm breaking. He had no idea where he was or how he got there or why the man was running from him, all he knew was he was in pig form and he had to find hot water. Or maybe just water would be good as he could taste a coppery yet salty tang in his mouth, if he was having lapses in memory in pig form he didn't want to even think about what he might have eaten that tasted like that.

Ryoga had stopped paying attention to his surroundings for long enough that his direction curse kicked in and he found himself on a sunny street, there was no point trying to figure out where he was as it didn't make any difference to him in the long run. Looking around he tried to figure out where the nearest hot water was and realized he was the center of attention for a mob. It wasn't like any mob he'd ever seen before though, they all had these white eyes that freaked him out, if he was in his human form he'd show them what for but as a little pig he knew that fear was one of the last things he inspired. Deciding that valour was the better part of honour he made a break for the only gap he could see, tiny hooves clicking on the tile floor he made the door just before the mob was able to cut him off, he hit the lower pane of glass and was inside the building before he realized where he was, he could smell the steam in the rooms beyond with his preternaturally powerful nose. Not waiting to find out if anyone was around to pay for the bath he made a beeline for the entrance to the men's side avoiding a pair of hands as the person he assumed was the caretaker of the premises tried to stop the filthy pig from entering into the bath itself. Had Ryoga been less focused on the hot water he might have seen the white eyes and had a clue that he would have been in more trouble than he ever wanted to contemplate, not that he knew what the white eyes meant. Letting out a Bweee of bliss the pig launched itself into the air and landed in the hot water somewhere near the middle of the expanse of steaming liquid.

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The monster looked around the enclosed area as it tried to figure out with its primitive mind why it was up to its haunches in hot water, it could tell that it didn't matter in the least though as it could sense a large number of the tasty creatures it'd been hunting earlier, something was different about them though they smelled different. Something stirred in its brain as it recalled carrion, where that came from it didn't stop to ponder, it was after all a predator with a predators mind. The hunger tore through its brittle mind as it began to move towards the largest concentration of scent around it. The wall tore like tissue paper as it removed the only obstacle between it and its next meal, great ropes of saliva dribbled from its chin as it watched the figures before it back away. This was right, it was predator and they were prey and they knew it.

/ \

A long way to the north a number of corpses twitched as they began to reanimate, the only one that remained still was lacking its head. He was the lucky one, his death had been relatively clean, apart from the stains in his pants that is. The sole survivor of the monsters attack tried to salvage the radio gear to warn headquarters, lifting the set by its straps he yelped in surprise as the base feel out and the fragile electronics within shattered against the tarmac behind their sandbags. Sighing he decided the next move would be a mobile phone, unfortunately he'd left his behind in barracks when they mobilized. Reaching down he checked the corpse of Corporal Ishiga for his mobile, the headless corpse wasn't wearing his phone either. Deciding to check the others he squeamishly approached the nearest body, Private Tetsuo looked almost peaceful if one failed to consider the gaping hole where his chest used to be. Koukin Amagashi, private first class shivered as his fingers brushed the material of the dead mans uniform. He was just reaching the flap of a pocket where he knew the private kept his mobile, against regulations, when he felt something change.

Looking down he watched carefully, there, just a slight movement that was sure to be the work of the wind, then a more definite movement as the hand of the dead man began to clench pulling a small pile of dirt into the centre of a fist. Koukin wasn't a coward by a long shot of the imagination, neither was he stupid, corpses don't move by themselves. If this was a trick it was in really bad taste and when he found out who was responsible he'd let them have a piece of his mind. When the corpse opened sightless eyes and swiveled its head to track him he decided it was no joke and bolted like a startled rabbit. Heading into town to contact headquarters and request backup, stronger weapons or extraction he was surprised when he was only asked to confirm his location. An hour later an F-15E flew overhead at a little under two thousand feet, a large black canister was dropped as the planes wings swept back and it began a steep accelerated climb out, the canister released a parachute and began to descend towards the small township on the shore of Lake Biwa. Thinking that HQ had released materiel for him he ran towards his supply canister never suspecting that it was anything but what he was expecting. PFC Amagashi was almost at the drop zone when there was a blinding flash from above, he had nearly a whole one hundredth of a second to consider what it meant before the wave of superheated oxygen flashed through his mind and the rest of him leaving nothing behind. That day the first of many towns would be struck with oxygen bombs, fifteen thousand souls perished, and not one of them rose again.

/ \

Authors notes)- Some people have complained about inconsistencies in story, i.e. the fact Ryoga, a strong ki user has been infected. Why you ask. Well that's a secret, for now though I will explain later when the NWC finds out the hard way. The curse as you see is still active, again with the why. Well just because. On the other hand, I'll tell you why he is still himself as the pig but a mindless monster when he's the, er….monster. The T-virus cuts access to the forebrain, meaning the victim whether mutant or zombie, and there is a difference, can only access it's primitive mind, it doesn't however destroy the persons forebrain so Ryoga is still in there, watching what he's doing. When the curse activates Ryoga's forebrain is forced back into the primitive sections of the pigs brain, as pigs don't have well developed frontal lobes. That means he is actually Ryoga as a pig and a monster when he deactivates the curse with hot water.


	5. Chapter 5

Resident Ranma

Chapter 5

Disclaimer:- I don't have time to give one at the moment, bigger fish to fry. "Back zombie, back I say! Now give me back the broom….Nice zombie…." Boomm!!! "Hah, you didn't know I had my trusty sawn off under the chair," Boooomm!!!, "Hah, eat lead zombie! Take some of this," Booomm!!!, "and this!" Booomm!!!. "That'll teach them, now, any lawyers out there want some? Didn't think so."

/ \

The first day saw an ordered response to the advance of the T-virus, towns that were known to be infected were wiped off of the map regardless of whether there were survivors or not. The later part of the first day saw those that would destroy the infected areas in turn infected, and the resistance faded until the last governmental defences fell and the virus swept the rest of Japan. The Tendo dojo came to be the new centre of the resistance as the large ki source there sheltered those within its walls and more than three hundred metres out. The survivors knew that if there was anywhere safe then it would be inside the Tendo compound and they made their way to seek sanctuary in their hundreds.

The Nekohanten proved to be indefensible as the zombies smashed their way into the restaurant and forced the Amazons to retreat in the face of over-whelming numbers……

……and so the second day commences with a desperate mission.

/ \

"Everyone has their orders? Xian Pu is heading North to check out any of the old martial arts schools and temples as far as the foothills, Mu Tse you're to head North-East, there's an American military base, you are to raid it for weapons and medical supplies, also there are a couple of places you could check for survivors but that's not a priority for you. Ranma you're heading South, you're going that way because it's going to be infinitely harder to get survivors back through the mess of zombies in the inner city areas, you have the best offensive capabilities. Specific areas for you all to check have been marked on the maps you've each been given, but don't pass up an opportunity to check an unmarked area if you sense ki of any kind. I don't have to tell you that speed is of the essence. The faster you get this done the more likely there are to be survivors. Mu Tse as you're on a supply run you'll only be taking one weapon with you so choose wisely, the others should take whatever weapons they can carry."

"Why stupid duck-boy only need one weapon? You think Xian Pu too too weak to take out some zombies?"

"Hey there's no way I'm gonna take any weapons, only the weak have to rely on them." Ranma glared at the Amazon elder who happened to be glaring right back at him.

"Shut up both of you, Mu Tse is primarily going on a supply run, put simply he can carry more in stuff space than he can with his hands. You two on the other hand are more likely to see combat as you attempt to rescue people and bring them back here. Now remain silent until I've finished, Happosai and I will remain here to maintain a constant Chi presence in the area, we don't know why none of us fell to the virus but I'd lay money on it that it has something to do with our Chi. It also might explain why so many people from around the dojo survived, my hope is that it happens this way in other areas where large sources of Chi are present. Now Mu Tse take me very seriously when I say if you come back with anything that isn't on that list without a good reason I'll superglue your glasses to the bridge of your nose. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I do honoured elder."

"Good then you'd better drop your weapons." She watched him drop a vast quantity of steel weaponry, she hadn't realised he could carry that much since she hadn't watched him train in a long time, though she noted he kept hold of a wicked looking war scythe. "Smart boy," she murmured, "keep them as far away as possible. Alright you can depart duck-boy" Saying the last loud enough for the only male Amazon present to hear she watched in satisfaction as the white robed Amazon leapt over the wall and disappeared rapidly in the direction of the American base like the obedient male he should be. Xian Pu looked quizzically at the elder, "Okay, you may go now as well, do not tarry anywhere, your sole objective is to rescue as many people as you can. As a secondary objective you should note any stores that we can raid for food." Xian left so quickly that only four people in the compound could follow the purple blur.

"Nice, she's been training ain't she?" Ranma asked of the ancient woman. She didn't answer as she gave him a level look that had Ranma sobering up rapidly.

"Ranma, come with me." She leapt to the top of the wall that surrounded the Tendo home and looked out over the massive crowd of zombies, they didn't look anything like in the movies he'd seen, their skin was pale but nowhere near the greys and blues of the big screen, neither were their eyes white with cataracts. Some of the worst had limbs missing or gaping holes where flesh had been removed as if they'd been eaten. Other than that it could have been a normal crowd of very pale people out for a stroll, well other than the fact that their inhuman attention to the pair on top of the wall was unnerving. "Now Ranma, tell me what turned them into zombies? Do you know how the virus is transmitted?"

"Er, no." He tried not to look too puzzled at the jist of her questions.

"We can discount airborne, at least for us since it seems that our chi protects us. If you're scratched by one however..." she paused as Ranma snorted at the very thought that the clumsy animated corpses could touch him, "Granted it's unlikely but there's another possibility, what if merely touching them leaves you vulnerable? If that's the case you could look just like that." She pointed down at a zombie in the front of the crowd as it reached towards them, it's mouth gaped as if trying to bite. When they'd appeared on the wall the groaning sound that pervaded the air rose to a near wail of despair as the zombies renewed their efforts to get to the living within the high wall.

Ranma went cold as he looked down into the flat stare of the creature. He could feel the hunger as a palpable force. Looking at it with ki sight was even worse as the thing wasn't even there, it had no ki, it was dead but it moved, animated by something else. Something he didn't want to consider as it was dark, this was the very essence of the word evil, not the fact that they were all dead but the fact that anyone could create something like this. How could any human unleash something like this on their own kind?

"The only defence we can be sure of is to not make contact with them. Take the weapon Ranma, live a little longer." The elder held the haft of the spear she'd pulled from a sub-space pocket.

"Alright Khu Lon, I'll take it." He took the spear in his hand then looked down in surprise when she didn't let go.

"Good boy, you'll make a wise leader one day. Sometime in the misty unforeseeable future." She smirked at the irked expression on the youths face as she finally released the weapon.

"So what are Oyaji and Tendo-san gonna do?" He tried not to look to sceptical as he considered the usually useless pair.

"They'll be responsible for clearing out the zombies around the dojo, and hopefully finding the best way to get rid of them…" she trailed off at the smirk on Ranma's face.

"Oyaji and responsible in the same sentence just don't work Old Ghoul. It's one of them, uh, what's the word…"

"You're looking for oxymoron I think." Nabiki said as she stepped out onto the porch.

"Nah I ain't looking for him, I'm pretty sure I already seen him, an your right, he's breathing and he's definitely a moron." Nabiki raised an eyebrow, she'd almost suspected the martial arts jock had made a play on words.

"Hey! That's enough out of you son-in-law you should already be gone." One of these days Ranma was going to figure out how the Old Ghoul kept smacking him in the head with that damned staff of hers.

"Yes elder." He said in a sententious tone as he hopped to the wall, if Xian Pu was fast Ranma could best be described as lightning incarnate as he simply vanished. Khu Lon watched the last of her children vanish into the distance and said a silent prayer for their safety. Happosai cleared his throat as he tried to gain her attention.

"Khu-chan," Happi had a great deal of practise at ignoring women who glared at him, so her worst glare barely moved him at all as he continued, "did you say something about getting my students to get rid of the zombies?"

"You know I did, they've got to do something constructive, other than playing go that is." She cast a disparaging look at the oblivious pair as they sipped _saké_ as if nothing had changed in their world, which was true for all of the next five minutes if she had her way.

"Why bother with those useless sots? I can do it much quicker." He demonstrated as he pulled out a number of his bombs and held them up, their wicks sizzled as they counted down to explosion. Happosai, Grand-master of the Anything Goes school of martial arts looked at the bombs and called out, "Happo Daikarin!" as he cast the one with the shortest wick over the wall, then followed it with the others at equal spacing along the street fronting the dojo, totally ignoring Khu Lon's shouted protest at his action.

"Damn it Happi, that's not the way…" BOOOOOOM!!!

"What? I can't hear you Khu-chan."

"I said….." BOOOOOOM!!! Happosai grinned manically and then shrugged knowing how badly it would annoy her. The windows in the neighbourhood rattled again as the third explosion rocked their world, the fourth caused cracks to appear in the outer wall and Happosai's grin slipped as he realised he might have overdone it a little. The fifth Happo Daikarin exploded and the walls bordering both sides of the street collapsed inwards narrowly missing the people who'd sheltered within the gardens. The street between looked like a glassy plain as the road surface bubbled for a few moments, other than that the street was empty of zombies though they could see the veritable army of dead at either end of the compound regaining their feet from the shock waves passage.

A few moments of silence ensued as the stunned spectators looked at the walls in shockbefore Happosai yelled for his students.

"Get out here you lazy bastards; it's time to earn your keep! Grab a Naginata each and defend either end of the compounds." He stopped speaking as the scared duo ran to do his bidding faster than he'd actually thought the pair could move, then again if the zombies got in here it was all over for them as well as the couple of hundred survivors they'd managed to get into the compound. Just as he was about to assist a scorched arm landed a few paces in front of him, shortly thereafter more body parts came down, all showing varying degrees of being burned.

"Well what do ya know Khu-chan, it's raining." He laughed uproariously as he made a gesture to grab an umbrella from the front hall while dodging a thrown brick.

/ \

Ranma was just passing Furinkan High school when he heard the first of the explosions that shattered the silence causing him to glance backwards at the rising column of smoke near the dojo. His attempt to change directions was thwarted as his feet went through the tiles of the next roof. His body connected with an underlying joist and he spun into the darkness before smashing through the plasterboard ceiling and into the room below and landing in a heap. A zombie that'd been trapped in the room disappeared in a flash of energy as it was punched through the side of the suburban home and into the street below where the badly mangled and partially cooked body attempted to stand up.

Ranma didn't wait to see if the zombie made it as he catapulted himself back through the hole he'd made in the ceiling and bolted for home. Halfway back he started to cycle his ki in preparation for whatever he'd find. Hitting the next roof right at the apex he spun to the side to avoid a smoking torso, somersaulted over an assortment of body parts that came flying in his direction and then he was back on track. In passing he noted the kind of damage done to the bodies or at least parts there of and figured out the most likely candidate for an ass whooping when he got back.

'Well it ain't Pops or Soun, they ain't got that kind a' fire-power, Khu Lon ain't that stupid. I suppose that leaves Happosai or maybe Ryoga. Nah, I think I can let Ryoga off the hook since the Shi Shi Hokoudan woulda left the zombies crushed in the bottom of the crater it forms. Alright, Happosai it is….' He struck the crest of the last roof with his right foot and let his momentum change his trajectory just slightly downwards, anyone who saw it might have thought that he'd tripped but would have been disabused of that idea when his left foot struck the near side of the roof on his way down and propelled him towards the road between the two compounds even faster than before.

/ \

Khu Lon lowered her hand, she'd been about to start working on the gap in the wall when Happosai opened his mouth and laughed like a hyena. She'd thrown the brick in her hand on reflex and barely missed the insane troll as he ducked towards the umbrella stand. The startled yelp from further in the shadows of the house told her that someone else hadn't been so lucky.

"Stop playing around Happi, we've got work to do. They can't hold the breach for very long…." Her sixth senses started to tingle as she 'felt' something heading in their direction at great speed; she turned around in time to see Ranma land in the centre of the road equidistant from both of the fathers. He nailed the landing so hard he seemed to vibrate in the air as her eyes tracked a motion that was expected but never happened. He reminded her of that road-runner character from the cartoon she thought irreverently.

/ \

Ranma had assessed the situation while coming in for his landing and figured that the biggest problem was that the two fathers were about to be overrun by zombies, the rebuilding of the wall could take a back seat to the gaining of needed breathing space.

"Hey Pops! Fire in the hole!!" He yelled as he powered up a massive Mouko Takabisha which he fired off even before his father started to take evasive action by springing several metres to his left. The elder Saotome felt the massive energy blast brush by him as he landed in a sprawling heap on the grass of the next house over the back of his gi smoking slightly. The ball of energy roared off down the street smashing anything in its path, zombies flew in all directions as the ball smashed into the house at the end of the street and detonating. The back of the suburban home disintegrated in a spreading arc of deadly shrapnel even as the roof and front wall began a slow motion collapse under their own weight.

"It needn't have been quite that close boy!" Genma jumped to his feet to berate his son but was stopped by the cold glare that came his way in return.

"Yeah, you're just gettin' slow old man! I ain't got time for this now I gotta help Tendo-san. Hey Soun! You might wanna get out of the way," he yelled as he turned from his father and watched as Soun moved rapidly to the side covering even more distance than his long-time friend had since he'd seen the ravening ball of destructive energy that Ranma had launched down the far street. The second sphere of energy roared through the gap like a freight train and proved to be just as unstoppable as it rolled through the zombie hordes crushing what it didn't blast out of its way. At about three hundred metres the energy dissipated into the air as it reached the effective range that Ranma could control its form. Ranma stood panting as he attempted to regain some of his energy, he very rarely had to throw so much energy in one go as he just had. Given a chance to look around at the stalled scene around him he realized that the people who should be rebuilding the walls were too busy staring at him.

"Oi! Are ya waitin' for an engraved invitation? Get the walls rebuilt before they come back!" He watched in satisfaction as Happosai and Khu Lon flew into action even as he moved to the section of wall still standing near Soun, using the naginata he'd been forced to take with him he used it to slice a five metre section of wall and then to undercut it. The powered leap he made hit the top of the wall with enough force to break the wall off in one complete slab as he grabbed the top of the wall and flipped over to land in time to brace the wall. Shifting his grip he bent his knees lower so that the wall shifted over him and then stood back up with the wall balanced on his palms as he moved to cover the breach.

Khu Lon appeared at his elbow as he held the wall up, she placed several large pieces of rubble down just as the wave of zombies struck the wall. More of the people in the compound waddled up carrying rubble and soon the wall ceased to tremble as the zombies attempted to push through. All in all it took ten minutes for Ranma to feel the wall was secure, he'd had time to look around and see that the people at the far end had fared a little worse than he had but all in all had done the same thing. The exception had been his father who'd attempted to do the same thing as he had with the wall but when he'd undercut it he'd gone too far and the wall was already collapsing towards him when he struck the top of it. It took both Soun and Happosai to lift the wall off of the corpulent martial artist.

When everything settled back down Genma stumbled away groaning in pain.

"Hey Pops, looking good! You losing weight?"

"What are you talking about insolent boy?"

"I dunno you look thinner or something." Ranma laughed at his father, which was nothing new really. What was new was that a number of people in the compound joined him. It took a moment for him to realize they weren't laughing in hilarity but rather nearly hysterically as reaction to the close call set in. That reminded him that Happosai needed to be put on notice not to do anything stupid like that. He turned around to find the diminutive martial artist.

"Hey Old Goat! You responsible for all this?"

Happosai looked sheepishly at his heir apparent as he snubbed his toe into the ground. Ranma wasn't buying whatever the old man was trying to sell though and he continued staring at the elder.

"Alright, alright it was my fault alright. I admit it! I just wanted to clear the zombies like Khu-chan wanted." He clasped his hands together while he did his pious master act, "Look, things went bad but I did it for the best of reasons, and as a bonus we have a larger compound for the people you rescue. By the way what are you doing back here, shouldn't you be out rescuing damsels in distress?"

"Oh I dunno, it might have something ta do with explosions in the street! An' damsel rescuing can wait a while, like I thought it might be good to have somewhere to come back to if I did find anyone to rescue." Ranma was highly unamused by the Grand-masters antics, "Next time leave it up to Pops and Tendo to do what they're asked to do. And you can get these body parts cleared up as well." He said in an aside.

Khu Lon walked up behind Happosai as he opened his mouth to begin a protest, the sound of her staff meeting the back of his head reverberated around the enclosed area, while leaving a crease that rapidly began to swell. "Shut up Happosai, don't even think of making excuses. Son-in-law, I think we have things under control now. Why don't you go on with your mission now?"

"Yeah I suppose. Just keep the hentai from doing anything else stupid."

"I'll try, Kami knows I'll try." Khu Lon shook her head in resignation at the folly of the only other elder present. Age was supposed to impart wisdom or some such but that didn't seem to be the case in Happi's case.

"I can hear you, you know?" Happosai groused as Ranma made his way to the wall.

"Son-in-law? Why are you leaving the naginata behind?"

"I told ya I don't need no weapon, I'll just blast anything that need it." He smirked at the elders expression as she gave in to the inevitable. "I'll see you guys later, I gotta go rescue some of them damsels you mentioned." For the second time in less than half an hour the pig-tailed martial artist vanished in a red and black blur that was barely visible to the two multi-centarians.

"Make sure they're pretty." The ancient hentai yelled after his protégé. Happosai smiled at the thought of the pretty ladies then winced as Khu Lon introduced her staff to the back of his head again, "Will you stop doing that?"

"When you stop being an idiot. Now you'd better go and check those houses for zombies, make sure the gates out onto the back alley are secure at the same time."

"Why me?"

"Call it penance for you stupidity." Khu Lon said ascerbically.

"Good point. Remind me to never get on Ranma's bad side." He said as he began to walk away.

"Too late Happi. I don't think I've seen him that aggravated in a long time. I think if we didn't need you so badly he'd have taken you out for that."

"Way to make me feel better about it Khu-chan, I'd better go check on the zombie situation."

/ \

Remi Sakimodo moved the mouse and clicked it rapidly, "Yeah, another zombie bites the dust," he yelled, the reaper hidden in the corner took him by surprise as it jumped his character and annihilated it, "Damn, I'll get it next time." He went to click on the restart button when a hand descended on his shoulder and spun him in the office chair. The screen blanked and showed the Doom 3 logo on the start screen.

"Hey man, give some of us a chance, you've been on for half an hour. Nabiki said we gotta take it in turns. Tendo rules."

"Shut up dweeb, I'll play it again if I want, and no weak pussy like you can stop me." He punched the younger boy in the shoulder as he swung back to the screen ready to click restart again. Remi blinked as he came face to face with a head which blinked back at him, it seemed to depict some girl in lines and shadows of ruby Sred on the computer screen.

"Excuse me, but you're not a zombie are you?" Issued from the speakers.

/ \

Authors notes:- Okay everybody, I have to admit this took longer to get out than I thought it would. That had something to do with a lack of response to the last chapter, I didn't know if anyone really wanted to see the next chapter. Don't forget to review, let me know if you liked this chapter, hated it, thought it needed work. You get the idea, just drop a line regardless.

As you can see I'm moving things into another track in the story, i.e. how the survivors survive. Ryoga is still around wreaking mayhem and destruction wherever he goes. The Americans are eventually going to turn up, just got to figure a reasonable way to make it happen.

Hope you enjoyed what I wrote.


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